Last year, renowned VC Steve Jurvetson parted ways with his longtime firm, DFJ, in what appeared a painful split. Six months later, he’s back with a new firm, Future Ventures, Jurvetson tells us via email. (Recode was first to take notice of the new site.)
Says Jurvetson: “I am incredibly excited about the future — the future of entrepreneurship, disruptive technologies, and my [“future ventures”] to come. I strongly believe that mission-driven founders forge the future. At Future Ventures, we will support those passionate founders.
“For the past 23 years, I have seen the greatest reward, personally and professionally by backing the visionaries who push the boundaries of possibility and explore the frontiers of the unknown.”
Jurvetson’s fast return to the venture scene isn’t a surprise. In November, we talked with numerous institutional investors who agreed that if they could invest behind a new Jurvetson effort, they would.
Largely, that interest ties to Jurvetson’s track record, which includes SpaceX, Tesla Motors, and the satellite company Planet, among other bets.
The circumstances around Jurvetson’s departure from DFJ appear to have provided an opening for his return, too.
Though Jurvetson left DFJ as he being investigated by the firm for harassment, the one person who had complained about DFJ publicly, at least, a founder named Keri Kukral, later made clear that her relationship to the firm was not in a professional context.
Such opacity around Jurvetson’s alleged transgressions, combined with his long history of success in Silicon Valley, appeared to embolden investors whose livelihood depends on betting on winning VCs.
Said one such limited partner to us back in November: “Are some of these VCs forever unbackable, or unbackable until the dust settles? As an LP, it’s easier to say right now, ‘I have a fiduciary duty to my investors’ [and pass]. But a family office doesn’t have to answer to anyone. If they think Steve is a great investor, shit, they’ll give him money. They understand he hasn’t [assaulted] anyone.”
When Jurvetson was leaving DFJ, he’d said he intended to “focus on personal matters, including taking legal action against those who have defamed me.”
Now, it looks like Jurvetson may have simply decided to move on instead.
Hopefully we’ll have more on this development soon.
